Veteran Memphis punk band Pezz set off today on a mini tour with the Meat Puppets, a lineup you can catch at the Hi Tone on Friday, December 4. Ian and I are even dusting off the soiree clothes for that one, and with this nostalgia in the air I wanted to learn more about Pezz, their history and evolution, and how they’ve managed to stay strong for 20 years. And relevant- Pezz is not resting on greatest hits, but has a new album in the works and even more new songs in their collective back pocket.

And with that, I’m now going to hand it over to original members Marvin Stockwell and Ceylon Mooney in this first installment of, well, the life of Pezz:

How did you end up on a handful of shows with the legendary Meat Puppets?

Marvin: A friend of ours was talking to the Meat Puppets manager and suggested we’d be a good band to play Memphis with them. He flew to Memphis to see us and was blown away. He asked us if we wanted to play the Knoxville and Chattanooga shows as well. We don’t tour a lot, but we still play a few road dates here and there when it makes sense. We knew this was one of those times.

Ceylon: They asked us!

Next June will mark the 20th anniversary of the band’s first show, and I can’t think of many other bands I saw at the Antenna that have had this sort of longevity. What’s your secret?

Marvin: Pezz is founded on friendship and mutual respect for each other. It takes more patience to be in a band that operates as a democracy, but in the end, working together to create something is so satisfying. We sharpen each other. Some of my favorite Pezz songs are ones we hashed and rehashed until we got it right. That takes humility and appreciation for constructive criticism. We have to all love it or else it goes back to the lab.

Ceylon: Ha ha! The simple answer is a funny one – change and resistance to change. We’ve had a lot of members, most of whom fit in really well and then moved on to something else. Heh… we keep rotating the tires and getting tune ups. Also, we keep making music that we want to. We’ve never been a novelty act, we’ve missed out on a lot of national music fads, and we’ve never sounded like the flavor of the month. Hell, that’s MEMPHIS! We’ve never depended on sounding like the latest thing and being in a city which even hosted much of that. We’ve never had much to do with the music business, so we’ve never been burned by the music business.

Anthony Siracusa, Ceylon Mooney, Christian Walker & Marvin Stockwell

What was the impetus for forming the band? Do the same things still drive you?

Marvin: Really it was about participating in a subculture that was impossible to resist and doing it with good friends. The punk scene is still a subculture, but before the popularization of the web and then social media, it was really more akin to falling down a strange but wonderful rabbit hole and discovering all these like-minded people who weren’t waiting for anything or anyone. They were creating music, art, and vehicles for protest and change and they were doing it on their own terms with others their own age. It was revolutionary and exciting. For Memphis, that meant that if you wanted to participate in this music subculture, you had to go to the Antenna… there was no vicarious song downloading or Facebook to tell you which ones of your friends were going to the show or liked a certain band. It was all up for grabs and you had to figure it out, face to face. Even though things have changed, I still play in Pezz because it’s a huge rush, an irresistible creative outlet, and a chance to make music with people I love. I love the thrill and challenge of delivering a particularly ferocious live set and, maybe I’m weird, but I love the tedium of the studio as well.

Ceylon: I just love doing this. Keep doing something as long as it feels good and sounds good and there’s a few like-minded people who want to play the kind of music I do.

What do you like about being a part of the Memphis music scene? About Memphis in general?

Marvin: I like being in a music scene that takes cues from no one really. We all have influences but there’s not a whole lot of people mocking up some prefab shtick. I love our musical history and how the same maverick spirit exists today. I love Memphis and I think so many good things are happening for Memphis right now. AC Wharton as our new mayor (I really have high hopes), the Gates Foundation grant for our schools, a revamped Fairgrounds in the works, the re-launched Levitt Shell, $5 Cover and a burgeoning film scene, the Greater Memphis Greenline coming online, Memphis Farmers’ Market, Edible Memphis, Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop, Live From Memphis, committed leadership organizations like the Leadership Academy, Leadership Memphis and MPACT Memphis… I mean the list goes on and on.

Ceylon: I love this city, but here’s how I can best describe it:

RULE #1: Sometimes show up the first time.
RULE#2: What’s the rush?
RULE #3: Don’t get it right the first time.

This city has a lot of personality and a lot of personalities. There are a lot of good places to play here, and there are always a lot of good bands. Currently there is no all ages venue, though the Hi Tone does host all ages shows sometimes. That is a huge drawback. I hate how late people like to start here–11pm. What’s really exciting, in addition to the tons of GREAT bands are the new thing happening is the nonprofit music scene here and all the foundations and organizations that are not bands but do at least as much work in creating a great scene. Rock-n-Romp, Live From Memphis, Memphis Music Foundation, and so on.

And on that note, don’t forget to check out Friday’s show at the Hi Tone with the Meat Puppets, the Dexateens and Pezz. And don’t forget to check back for another set of Qs with Marvin, Ceylon and Christian! In the meantime, you can take a look at a band bio and video on Live From Memphis.

Special thanks to Tom Hibdon for use of his photography!

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